Hey, ya'll!
I thought it was about time for another blog post! We've been back in school now for a few days since fall break. The kids have actually fallen right back into routine pretty easily!
I worked really hard first quarter to get them into routine during our small group reading hour. Last year, our team leader, made up her own reading routine to get her kids more exposure. She showed all of us what she was doing (because my principal gave us all time to observe during a school day!) and we fell in love and all did the same thing!
So, here's what we do during small group reading time. And it's NOT CENTERS!!!!
Back at the beginning of the year, after I heard everyone read, all of the kids were assigned to a book (or level of books). They keep their book in one of these bins for easy storage and access. The bins have nothing to do with groups or level or anything. I just slapped their names on to some chalk labels using chalk markers, and, BAM, that's where they keep their books, bookmarks, and reading journals. Fancy, huh?
The kids grab their book and take it somewhere in the room. I let them read anywhere they want to. I have not yet introduced pillows and the bean bag chair and the stuffed animals because I wanted them really and truly in reading routine before adding in anything that could be distracting! They HAVE TO read their book a minimum of 3 times for fluency. We talk A LOT about fluency in both reading and math. If they are not yet feeling fluent, and like a reading champion (GoNoodle reference), then they keep practicing.
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| The bookmarks have the ZooPhonics alphabet on them, N-Z is on the back. |
After they've read it 3 times they get their recorder. I have 15 recorders and 20 kids, so for the sake of "fairness" (and to save some $ on AAA batteries) I am only using 10 recorders, so they all have to share. They record themselves reading their story out loud, and then, and this is HUGE, they LISTEN TO THEMSELVES!!! We go over what fluent and not fluent sounds like, and then they have to judge themselves on if they sounded fluent! If not, well, it's back to reading. Yes, I do spot check their recorders to make sure their reading really is fluent. We got the recorders because my principal is amazing, and incredible, and has mad budgeting skills that let her buy 15/teacher (60 total!).
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| This is one of my super strong readers, so he gets to just choose books instead of the leveled readers. |
***NOT PICTURED***
After recording they get their reading journal. They use the sentence frame, "My favorite part of _____ is _____ because _____." and then they get to draw a picture. I am having my stronger readers also start writing a re-tell as well. We use "Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then". But some kiddos are not ready for the extra writing just yet. After Christmas they will ALL be doing the retell part as well.
The last step is for them to complete their phonics journal. I use this interactive notebook because it's amazing and has soooo many skills! We do a phonics mini lesson at the start of our small group time. We spent the entire first quarter on alphabet review, short vowels, and CVC, and we have now just started digraphs (sh, th, ch, wh).
Once their phonics notebook is complete they get to choose ONE center. They can do word work (mostly puzzles I got from Lakeshore where they build sight words and such, but also magnetic letters, and compound words, etc.) writing, or listening. For writing I use Cara Carroll's Work-On-Writing centers that she made last year. They are AH-MAZING!!! And then, after that ONE center, they go get their next book and the cycle starts all over!
How do students keep track of where they are at in the cycle, you ask??? Well, they have these handy-dandy laminated checklists! After each step they check the box and go on to the next step! When they've checked everything they know it is center choice time and they get to erase everything to get ready to start over.
My small group time runs from 9-10am Monday-Thursday. During this time our first grade reading specialist pulls kids out to read with her. She takes 2 groups from my class. The checklist makes it easy for the kids coming and going too because they know where they last left off since they move through things a little more slowly. Because all students are engaged in reading or writing for the entire hour I am able to read with them as well. It also gives me time to do running records and to progress monitor for DIBELS.
Yes, it's a lot of work to set up. Yes, it's really hard to be able to meet with any groups during the first quarter, so I didn't even try! I just made sure I was keeping up with assessments. But, you guys, it is SO effective! SO. EFFECTIVE. Kids need access to books that are ON THEIR LEVEL! They need to be reading and reading and reading to be able to improve. What we're doing does all of that! They get repeated practice with books on their level, they build their fluency, they practice writing, there's phonics worked in, and there's some fun at the end. Plus, lemme tell ya', once their in routine with this, it makes sub plans really easy for this hour! I am seriously in LOVE with how we are doing reading.
*Phew* That was a long one! Thanks for making it to the end! You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram
